This invention relates generally to entering characters in a small or portable data entry appliance which does not have a conventional keyboard. More specifically, the invention relates an efficient system for entering of characters from a large character set when the surface space that is available for entering the characters is relatively limited, such as on a cellular telephone, or into a personal digital assistant.
The proliferation of small or portable information appliances has brought many challenges to users who want to efficiently enter data into the memory of such devices. For example, consider the many different types of personal digital assistants (PDAs) (also known as personal information managers) which help users store and organize information. Such information has included appointments, calendars, addresses and telephone numbers. However, these information appliances are now being called upon to store more and more information. And the users want to enter that information using the information appliance, instead of transferring the data from some other source. This may be attributed to the increasingly mobile society.
Data entry of alphanumerical information has always been a challenge in PDAs because there is a relatively small surface area available for data entry. For example, providing a separate key for each letter of the English alphabet and for the numbers 0 through 9 requires a significant amount of space on a small information appliance. Nevertheless, the entry of alphanumerical data is becoming increasingly important because of the Internet and other voice and data information networks.
The importance of the Internet, the e-commerce that it has generated, and new forms of communicating has created the need for other types of information appliances that can do more than store dates and addresses. For example, information appliances such as the PALM PILOT(TM) from PALM(TM), the VISOR(TM) from HANDSPRING(TM), and many others can now provide access to the Internet. Similarly, cellular telephones and digital telephone are now capable of communicating over the Internet. Accordingly, users can now send and receive email or even browse the World Wide Web using devices that were not originally intended for this purpose.
Disadvantageously, means of entering alphanumerical data continues to be a problem for such small and portable devices. One method that is used to enter alphanumerical data is through the use of a shorthand script. However, this generally requires the user to employ a small stylus, and to memorize the script. Another method includes using miniature keyboards. However, because of the available space, these keyboards generally require the use of a stylus in order to strike individual keys.
Of particular interest is the method employed by cellular telephones because they are so limited in total surface area. One relatively old system of entering characters is pressing a key that represents up to three characters. The user must select which letter among the group of letters that is to be entered by tapping once for the first letter, twice for the second letter, and three times for the third letter. However, there are some limitations to this method. For example, the letters Q and Z are not provided on a standard telephone keypad. Furthermore, there are a limited number of discrete keys. Thus while a standard telephone keypad will function for the English alphabet, it is not conducive to languages which have very large character sets that sometimes have even hundreds of different characters. The nature of discrete keys to represent characters also inherently inhibits the variety of data entry that can take place.
It would therefore be an advantage over the prior art to provide a system for entry of characters on a small or portable electronic appliance that can accommodate a large character set. It would also be an advantage to provide such a system that avoided the use of discrete keys to thereby provide a greater variety of data entry methods.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for entering data into a small and portable information appliance.
It is another object to enable the entry of alphabetical data into the small and portable information appliance when the alphabetical character set is relatively large.
It is another object to enable the entry of alphabetical data from a large character set into small and portable information appliances that are Internet capable.
It is another object to enable the entry of alphabetical data into mobile telephones and PDAs that are Internet capable.
It is another object to enable the entry of alphabetical data into small and portable information appliances by providing a touchpad for data entry.
It is another object to provide a touchpad for entry of data from a large character set into a mobile telephone or other portable information appliance by using a touchpad that can also function as a cursor control device.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is a system for entering characters from a large character set into a small and portable information appliance such as a mobile telephone, wherein the information appliance includes a touchpad having a touch-sensitive surface, wherein the touchpad is used to enter alphanumerical data into the information appliance, wherein the characters can come from small or large character sets, and wherein characters are entered by providing a plurality of character groups, each group having a head character assigned to a specific region, and selecting a head character enables the user to cycle forwards or backwards through each of the characters within the selected character group, and selecting the desired character by raising a finger from off the touchpad surface when the desired character is found.
In a first aspect of the invention, a relatively small touchpad surface is disposed within the standard physical dimensions of an information appliance such as a mobile telephone.
In a second aspect of the invention, the touchpad surface is disposed within the body of the information appliance to thereby protect it, and yet is still sensitive to a pointing device as large as a finger.
In a third aspect of the invention, the touchpad surface is divided into a plurality of regions that are made sufficiently large such that a finger makes discrete contact with a single region.
These and other objects, features, advantages and alternative aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in combination with the accompanying drawings.